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Poland's one man show

Tobias Ufer / alOctober 10, 2014

When Poland line up against Germany on Saturday, all eyes will be on the host's star striker from Bayern Munich. But, no matter how well he plays, the goal-getter can't carry the team completely on his own.

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Robert Lewandowski, tries to control the ball while playing for Poland
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Warzawa

It will be a special moment for Robert Lewandowski when he walks out onto the pitch for Poland in his home city of Warsaw on Saturday night. When the Polish striker lines up against the World Cup winners, he'll be standing toe-to-toe with many old friends and teammates from the Bundesliga.

"The game against Germany will be a bit strange," he said. "I know a lot of players in that team and I spend time with some of them; with others I have won important trophies. Now, I am up against them."

The 26-year-old is carrying a lot of responsibility on his shoulders in this Polish team. The side, coached by Adam Nawalka, seems to be almost completely without international stars otherwise. Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub Blaszczykowski from Borussia Dortmund have international experience, but the latter is injured for this game. The future stocks don't look too bright either: Former Leverkusen, now Ajax striker Arkadiusz Milik, is one of very few youngsters in the squad.

Adam Nawalka speaks with Robert Lewandowski at Poland national team training
Adam Nawalka speaks with Robert Lewandowski at Poland national team trainingImage: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Zborowski

'So unbelievably bad'

The situation in Polish football has become so dire, that last year Lukasz Szukala, a former second division player at German club Alemannia Aachen, managed to get into the national team. The coach himself says that the team still "needs to be formed." Nawalka took over about a year ago and since then, 70 players have trialled with the national team.

The current ranking of the side is also a real problem: at position 70 on the FIFA list, the team is trailing countries like Jordan, Libya and Venezuela. The domestic league may have something to do with that. In the UEFA ranking system, which determines the involvement in Champions League and Europa League, the Ekstraklasa league in Poland is ranked 21st, behind Israel and Cyprus.

The national team didn't qualify for South Africa in 2010 or Brazil this year, and in the last two European Championships - the only two times the country has qualified for the tournament - they were knocked out in the group stage.

Poland's former boxing world champion Dariusz Michalczewski, a keen football fan, has taken it upon himself to criticize his country's football side ahead of the match against Germany, in the Munich-based "Abendzeitung" newspaper.

"We are so unbelievably bad," the 46-year-old told the paper, adding that although Poland's economy benefitted from the EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine "the football has got worse." Michalczewski admits, though, that the team does have good individual players, with great potential.

Lewandowski vs. Neuer

One of the best individuals in the Polish team is without a doubt, Lewandowski. Last month, in the first game of the country's EURO qualifier campaign he scored four goals against Gibraltar.

And Poland's defense isn't too bad either. Of the eight games under Nawalka's leadership, Poland has managed to keep a clean sheet in five of the encounters. But, the next opponent isn't Gibraltar and the goalkeeper Lewandowski will be up against is not Jordan Perez - but rather Manuel Neuer.

Dariusz Michalczewski
Dariusz Michalczewski is a keen football fan, but is disappointed in Poland's national teamImage: Getty Images/A. Grimm

This week Neuer commented wryly in a press conference that not even at Bayern Munich training does Lewandowski manage to get a ball past him. Still, it's interesting to note that Lewandowski actually scored his first goal in the Bundesliga against Neuer, when the two played for Borussia Dortmund and Schalke respectively.

Before he moved to Bayern, just about every club in Europe wanted to sign Lewandowski and he has developed into one of the world's best strikers. But, his amazing skills can't hide glaring deficiancies in Polish football.

In the long term reforms and plans will need to be set up to improve the country's sporting development - corruption, match-fixing and violent hooligans are still commonplace in Polish football.

A good result against the World Cup winners, weakened by injuries, would certainly do Polish football a world of good right now. And, it would be an important step in qualifying for the third European Championship in a row for the country. But, no matter how good Lewandowski plays tomorrow, it's not going to solve the problems of his country's favorite sport.

DW will be covering the Poland vs. Germany match live at www.dw.de/sports from 18:30 UTC on Saturday.